I love black and white images. Maybe it is the simplicity of a complete lack of colour. Maybe it is because the first film I shot and developed was black and white. Maybe it is because black and white images strip everything back to the basics of light and dark tones.
Almost every photo captured now is in colour because our world is in colour and the vast majority of people use digital cameras to capture that world. We can always convert a colour image into black and white after we have captured it.
But what is it like to see the world in black and white instead of in colour? That is what I set out to do in this challenge.
I started by changing my Nikon D850’s picture control to monochrome. This meant that when I capture an image and review it on the screen on the back of the camera, it will be in black and white. This gets me half way there.
The second thing I did allowed me to compose my scene and see it in black and white before taking the picture. To do this, I did something I don’t do very often. I used live view to compose my image. When I combine changing the camera’s picture control to monochrome and using live view, it meant that the when I looked at my screen, the live view was in black and white.
When my camera’s picture control is monochrome and I use live view, the screen displays the scene in black and white.
When trying to capture a black and white image, it is a huge advantage to see the world in black and white while I composed it. This way I didn’t have to wait until after I captured the photo and press the play button to see the image in black and white. Capturing the image this way also allowed me to make adjustments before capturing the photo.
What Makes a Good Black and White Image?
So what do I look for in a black and white image? One of the things I love about black and white is the deep shadows and contrast in a scene. So whenever I had light and shadows in a scene, I experimented with a black and white image.
The other thing that I love about black and white is different textures. Anything from the rough texture of a plank of wood to the smooth texture of a shiny metal handrail.
Something else I look for for black and white images is objects that demonstrate form. Form is when you can see that an object is three-dimensional. The best way to do this is to have side lighting. Side lighting means that light comes from either the right or the left side of the frame in relation to the photographer and hits the subject.
This image demonstrates three of the things I am looking for in a subject for a black and white image. 1. It has contrast between highlights and shadows. 2. The shiny metal texture of the gong is clear 3. The side lighting clearly shows the shape and form of the top of the gong.
Best Conditions for Black and White
Ideally for this challenge I would have a day that had a lot of sunshine which would give me the contrast between shadows and light. I did have a number of opportunities for images with light and shadows but I also had some cloudy parts of my day which meant looking for textures and shapes.
Sometimes you may not be sure if an image will look good in black and white. This comes with practice.
But if you follow what I did, you will be able to see the world in Black and White while composing your image and your understanding of what works and what doesn’t will be right before your eyes.
Check out how things went for me in the digital black and white challenge.
Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
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